Durban, South Africa
By the Pond
Some of the attendees at the upcoming festival this weekend come from other
places. Apart from my own Canadian
origins, there are two chaps from Mauritius and a larger number from Pretoria. The floodgates of fans for Jagannath
(the wooden image of Krishna) are opening for swamis, families, and folks from other parts of
Africa and abroad.
We early birds, with destination Durban’s Ratha Yatra fest, took
advantage by forming a japa party and circling the famous temple
here. A clear demarcated sidewalk is
there for the using. It carries features
of a normal sidewalk with some cracks and puddles and a population of frogs
that cross it.
A fish pond, or moat (as some people call it), is home to colourful
koi. After seeing them swim next to our
sidewalk we decided to go for a ‘relaxer’ and dip our white, brown and black
feet into the water with the koi. They
were not the least bit interested in nibbling our toes. The guppies were more bold and curious than
their larger counterparts.
I did have the pleasure to speak from the Srimad Bhagavatam book,
Canto 2, Chapter 8, Text 3. There is a
dialogue between a king and a sage and stress is put on hearing what is
sacred. Only then can freedom from materially
induced habits take place. Start with
listening. We all should try to make the
effort toward divinity.
May the Source be with you!
2 km
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